Fluids such as nutrients and food in fluid form are conventionally supplied to people having a reduced capacity for ingesting food orally by themselves due to advanced age or illness (referred to hereinafter as “patients”) using a gastrostomy catheter. Such a gastrostomy catheter is provided with a stomach-internal fixed part which is arranged on the inner part of the stomach wall in a hole (gastrostomy hole) for ingestion which is provided in the abdomen of the patient, and a tubular part of which the tip end is linked to the stomach-internal fixed part, and the base end passes through the hole and extends outside the patient's body. When this gastrostomy catheter is attached at the hole which is formed in the patient's body, it is then necessary to confirm whether or not the stomach-internal fixed part of the gastrostomy catheter is indwelling in the correct state inside the stomach.
One method of confirming the indwelling position of the gastrostomy catheter in this case is a method in which an endoscope is inserted into the alimentary canal orally or nasally, and observations are made using the endoscope. There is also another method in which the gastrostomy catheter is made indwelling in the hole in the patient, after which fluid etc. inside the body is sucked out from the gastrostomy catheter by means of a syringe, and the indwelling position of the gastrostomy catheter is confirmed according to the characteristics of the fluid sucked out. With these methods, there are problems with the one in which suction is carried out using a syringe after the gastrostomy catheter has been made indwelling in that it is difficult to judge unless there are marked differences in the characteristics of the fluid etc. sucked out, which leads to poor reliability. Consequently, the method employing an endoscope is preferred in order to more reliably confirm the indwelling position. However, there are problems with the method employing an endoscope such as the high costs of cleaning the endoscope after use and patient discomfort.
In view of these problems, it is possible to significantly reduce the costs of cleaning the endoscope after use by attaching a disposable cover to the endoscope (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication H3-292925). This endoscope probe cover (protective cover) is made up of a tube which covers the endoscope probe very closely, and a thread-like body, and it has a structure in which it is possible to split the tube after use by pulling the thread-like body. Consequently, the endoscope probe does not come into direct contact with fluids etc. in various parts of the body and become soiled, which makes sterilizing and cleaning operations largely unnecessary, and therefore the costs entailed by sterilizing and cleaning can be reduced.
However, with the endoscope probe cover described above, there is a risk that soiling adhering to the surface of the tube will then adhere to the endoscope probe when the thread-like body is pulled and the tube is split. In this case also, there are still problems remaining in that if the endoscope probe is inserted into the alimentary canal orally or nasally, this causes discomfort to the patient when the endoscope probe is inserted.